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Friday, April 9, 2010

Mrs. Piggle Wiggle's sister

Well, not really. Betty MacDonald, known also as the author of The Egg and I, was merely the gifted creator of the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle series. However, her sister, Mary Bard, was also a writer. The dust jacket of Best Friends at School provides this photo and bio below:The oldest daughter of a mining engineer, Mary Bard was born in Montana. Her father's work caused the family to move so frequently that she went to kindergarten in Mexico City, first grade in New York and second grade in Colorado, and did not complete one uninterrupted year of school until she was thirteen. Later, she studied at the University of Washington in Seattle.

8 comments:

My friend Paula, who lives here in Seattle and who I met through the Betsy-Tacy Society, is a writer and historian who has researched the lives of Betty and Mary. You can see some of her work at this link, an essay and slide show about the sisters.

As Maria mentioned, there is a new book called Looking for Betty MacDonald. I have not yet had time to read it but here is a link to a review: http://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/books/looking-for-betty-macdonald-finds-comedy-and-tragedy/.

I was actually referring to a biography that came out before the one you're referring to. It's called "Betty: The Story of Betty MacDonald, Author of The Egg and I", by Anne Wellman, and it has good reviews on Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/Betty-Story-MacDonald-Author-Egg/dp/1493662422) and Goodreads.

Staircase Wit

The French call it l'esprit d'escalier, "the wit of the staircase," those biting ripostes that are thought of just seconds too late, on the way out of the room - or even, to tell the truth, days later.